100 Ways to Kill a Doctor: Eternal Night
by Daedaleopsis
Summary: You never know what weird kind of things go on at a sci-fi convention...


100 Ways to Kill a Doctor Halloween Challenge

(my response to Dsnynutz's prompt)

RULES:

1\. Sheldon/Penny - They can be platonic, romantic, smutty, Super Heroes/Villains, etc.

2\. Leonard/Amy's death MAY occur anytime from the Pilot thru Season 9.

3\. The death must be completed in a single chapter, although you are welcome to contribute as many different forms of death as you like as long as they are a chapter each.

4\. The story must be no more than 1,500 words long.

5\. Deadline is October 31, 2015.

* * *

This is my first fanfic written in the first person. It was a fun change of pace.

* * *

"It's just a scratch, Sheldon. Leave me alone." I scowled at him but didn't pull away as he finished taping down the gauze pad over the antibiotic ointment.

"How did that guy even sneak a real knife in past security? And that wasn't really the personal dagger of Vlad the Impaler like he said, right?" Howard asked nervously.

"It would be easier to think that guy was just a loony if he hadn't disappeared the minute we all looked away. Spooky," Raj added with a shiver.

"This never would have happened if you'd just worn my shirt like I wanted," Leonard said sulkily.

I rolled my eyes. Attending a sci-fi convention was not my idea of a good time, but I'd been trying to be a good fiancée. Leonard was mad because I had not only refused to wear any costumes, but then I'd chosen to wear Sheldon's t-shirts rather than his. The reason was simple: Leonard wore a large, and Sheldon, the walking beanpole, wore a medium. If I was going to wear a Batman t-shirt to a convention, it was going to be tight enough to have every single guy (and let's face it, many that weren't) drooling over what they couldn't have. And now Leonard was blaming my tight shirt for the fact that the guy attacked me with a knife? Unbelievable. Sometimes, his jealousy drove me crazy. Sometimes, it just made me flirt a little more with other guys. Hey, just because there was a small diamond solitaire on my finger didn't mean I wasn't allowed to have some fun.

And speaking of crazy… I looked up at the serious face of my weirdest friend. At least he hadn't complained about the possible damage to his t-shirt. I was surprised that Sheldon had let me borrow his shirts at all, but he told me he was doing it for Leonard, which was kind of sweet. Then he told me that I had to have his clothes professionally dry-cleaned before I gave them back so they'd be clean enough for him to touch them to launder them himself. Weirdo. How he ever has a girlfriend is beyond me.

I frowned down at my arm. White bandages were not at all sexy. "I think I'll take a second look at those fingerless gloves I saw back in the vendor's area."

"Those are leather vambraces, Penny, _really_ ," Sheldon scolded.

"I think they're hot," Leonard said, giving me a look. I knew exactly what was on his mind. I struggled not to roll my eyes as I wondered what comic book heroine I would be playing that night in the privacy of our room. Sometimes I couldn't imagine how on earth my life had come to this.

I did go back and buy the vambraces, as Sheldon called them. I eyed leather bustiers and sleek legging that would fit like a second skin. I would look hot in them, I knew, but they were custom-made and way out of my budget. Not to mention the only place I could wear them would be conventions and Halloween parties. The rest of the day, I tagged along behind the guys as they shuffled back and forth between panels, screenings and meet-and-greets. The only interesting part was meeting an actress who had a minor role on Agents of SHIELD. I envied her, and wondered that could have been me if I'd ever had my lucky break.

By the evening, I was starting to feel too hot. Maybe that scratch was getting infected despite all the gunk Sheldon had smeared on it. Leonard followed me eagerly to our hotel room, and I put on such a good show that he was snoring less than half an hour later. Yup, I've got his number. I just wish he'd get mine a little more often, if you know what I mean.

I watched a little TV, then crawled into bed. In my dreams, I was again aware of heat. At first, it felt good, like getting close to a wood-burning fire at a ski lodge. The funny thing was, I didn't dream of anything else. There was just blackness and heat. Intense heat. Searing heat as the darkness came closer. I was suddenly terrified. The blackness engulfed me, and it tasted like the despair of a million funerals of people who died too young. I opened my mouth to scream, and the darkness swept inside, consuming me from within. This is what hell is, I thought. And then... nothing.

I woke with a desperate gasp, feeling as though I had somehow clawed my way out of the bottom of the earth. (Yes, I know Leonard-or any of the other guys-would tell me the earth doesn't have a bottom. But that's just how it felt.) I could still feel that blackness inside of me. It felt like every good thing, every joy and happiness, had been stolen from me. My breath poisoned the air, and yet I wasn't breathing. That scared me. I took in a deep breath, expanding my lungs like I was going to project my voice to the back of a huge theater, but something was different. I sensed that I no longer needed air. As my mind was whirling, I began to take in other details of my surroundings. I could feel every thread of the hotel sheets as they pressed against my skin. I heard twenty conversations, and the electric hum of the alarm clock next to Leonard's head on the nightstand. I wrinkled my nose at the heavy, rank scent of his body, mingled with the pungent smell of the hair gel he always used. But underneath that, there was something that drew me. It wasn't a smell or a sound; it was a feeling. Leonard was happy, and it poured out of his skin and wafted into the surrounding air. It felt like sunshine and smelled like fresh-cut grass and chocolate chip cookies. I ached for that until the pain was like a knife in my gut. I crept closer to him, blind to all else but that euphoric happiness.

"Leonard," I whispered, and my voice was too loud in my own ears. I tried again, pitching my voice lower, and what came out had an odd edge to it, insistent yet seductive. "Leonard, wake up."

He opened his eyes and turned toward me. "Yes?" he asked. Just that one word, and then he was perfectly still, as if waiting on my next command.

"I need you. Come closer," I begged—ordered?—and he obeyed.

I kissed him, my tongue sliding between his pliant lips. I could taste the light inside of him, like champagne on New Year's Eve, full of hope and promise. I wanted more. I needed more. I had been starving for so long, slowly dying, and he was my salvation. There was a dull pressure inside my mouth, which built into twin stabs of pain in the roof of my mouth. It didn't matter. What I needed was right… there. I licked his jaw, nibbled on his ear and nuzzled at his neck. Leonard moaned and swayed slightly as I sucked at the skin over his pulse point. Yes. Yes, this felt right. I sucked harder. That light was just beneath his skin, beckoning me. I struck, latching on to him with those strange lengths which now jutted out of my mouth. Pure joy filled me, flooding every part of my body. I couldn't get enough. I sucked desperately, moaning with ecstatic glee.

When it was all over, I sat back and realized what I had done, but I felt so good I couldn't bring myself to care. Literally, I was overflowing with happiness. I strode to the bathroom to see my fangs retreating. My skin was several shades paler, but I had never looked better. Before, I had been pretty. Now I would give any supermodel a run for her money. I stretched out my senses. The hotel was full of people. Some were happy; many were not. Raj's despair was almost as bleak as mine had been. Sheldon throbbed with a dull misery. But Howard… oh yes, Howard was happy. And he would let me in if I asked. After that, I would go take that sexy leather outfit, and maybe the vendor too. I would own what I had become: a creature of the night. Vampire.


End file.
